Octopus Tracker

mmmmikey

Maybe:

more forecast wind = lower Tracker prices

other things being equal?

MultiFuelBurner

https://emoncms.org/ukgrid

Has been bang on so far for our predictions in the family spreadsheet.

Spoonie_Turtle

mmmmikey said:

Of course, this is going to vary according to how much you can shift your load. In my case, I can do this quite easily which allows me to make the best of either Agile or the Savings Sessions accordingly.

Well, most of the time. I have a friend with a teenage daughter who comes to stay from time to time, and all rules about energy use at peak time go out of the window. … (The more serious and relevant point being that it's much easier for some us to load shift than others and this is going to have a huge impact on your choice of tariff).

Yeah absolutely, I could maybe get some of the family on board with the work Agile would require but it would cause my parents to worry about it unnecessarily, and the other family member doesn't have the view of small things adding up, they only care if it's a massive issue by itself.  A few pennies every hour and they don't care enough to change anything. 

So for the peace of the family - peace of mind for my parents, and peace in our relationship with the other family member - the potential savings Agile could offer over Tracker are a price I'm willing to pay.  We're already saving a ridiculous amount on Tracker (I'll have to crunch the numbers, but we were on course to easily hit £1,000 saved against the SVT by November) and even with the formula change potentially reducing savings, it's a good balance between moneysaving and convenience/peace in the household.

[And I'm always mindful that we're fortunate to be in a position to choose between moneysaving and relative comfort, very aware that many people don't have the choice of comfort.]

Telegraph_Sam

I'll reserve judgement until I hear that a canny forumite has been able to profit from Agile without rearranging life around load shifts and savings sessions!

PennineAcute

Telegraph_Sam said:

I'll reserve judgement until I hear that a canny forumite has been able to profit from Agile without rearranging life around load shifts and savings sessions!

I was on Agile for a month before moving or to Tracker (I was told there was a wait for Tracker by Octopus) 14 Aug to 13 September this year.  During this time I save £15.66 compared to SVT.  I am saving around £20 a month now on Tracker.  I do not have Solar Panels, batteries, etc.  But I do have a gas cooker.

I moved to to Tracker, as during that month it was 8p a day cheaper.

I did no massive changes, as cooking is by gas.  Yes, I looked for the cheapest time to use washing machine and dishwasher - dryer is heat pump, so is relatively cheap to use anyway, so just used as needed.

I was looking to move away from Agile over the winter periods anyway, as my fishtank heater did not know not to come on between 4 and 7 pm.

I live by myself, so my usage is reasonably low anyway, with no real heavy usage between 4 and 7 before and after Agile.

Telegraph_Sam

That partly echoes my situation. It would be interesting to hear from anyone with similar experience (or not)

Spoonie_Turtle

If I lived alone I would do a month or two using energy as if I were on Agile, to see if it's something I could easily sustain and whether it saved much/enough over Tracker using the comparison tool that's been mentioned.  (But I don't so I can't.)

69bertie

mmmmikey said:

Well, most of the time. I have a friend with a teenage daughter who comes to stay from time to time, and all rules about energy use at peak time go out of the window. There's no way I'd risk arguing with said daughter - think "lamb" and "slaughter" with me playing the role of lamb. I had no idea of how high the running costs are for teenage daughters - definitely not a money saving option! (The more serious and relevant point being that it's much easier for some us to load shift than others and this is going to have a huge impact on your choice of tariff).

Not just daughters. I have a stepson who is at uni and came home for the Christmas period. My bills have gone up by £1.50 a day!!!! He went back yesterday. We've now gone back down and I might even find that the batteries might last the whole day ... again. 

But you are right it is much easier for some to load shift. I'm actually on Octopus E7. Why? Because it fits with our life style.I did try Flux (because I have solar and battery), but oh dear, what a disaster. 3 hours charge was fine but it meant the batteries (9.6kw) were being used more and getting depleted (lousy weather for solar) by 4pm! I need more batteries for that tariff. I went back to the E7 tariff. I can handle £2.50 a day during the winter. 

MultiFuelBurner

Back to some normal tracker pricing from 2nd Jan linked with business industrial users ramping up usage as they get back to work fully.



Christmas was so cheap

mmmmikey

Yes indeed :-)

But the savings sessions have created a really peverse pricing structure where higher Tracker prices could be accompanied by lower bills.....

As the amount of wind drops and demand increases the likelihood of live savings sessions increases. And for anyone who is capitalising on those sessions, either by using batteries to export or agressively shifting load to the peak period on non savings days to (to increase the potential return on savings days) the benefit from the savings sessions may outweigh the addtional cost for higher prices.

So less wind could mean higher prices but smaller bills - strange but true!

Oh what a tangled web of apparently nonsensical pricing and confusion the energy market has become.....